


Black Out

by Crazy_Pairing_Person



Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Attempted Murder, Basically it's an all around terrible time for everyone, Character Death, Death, Drama, Gen, Murder, Suicide, Zero Escape AU, Zero Escape based, oh and implied Haruhi/twins at the beginning but it's barely there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-05-06 00:22:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14630118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazy_Pairing_Person/pseuds/Crazy_Pairing_Person
Summary: They've all been kidnapped. Three of them have a disease that has a seventy-five percent chance of killing them. If they don't trust each other, they could die anyway. If they don't play this game, they'll definitely die.What fun.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have twenty-one chapters of this fic outlined and it's not done but I wanted to put up the first chapter anyway so take it.

"Haruhi! Haruhi, wake up!"

Haruhi let out a soft groan, her eyes fluttering open to see the Host Club standing over her.

"Mm, sorry..." she mumbled, sitting up. "I didn't get much sleep last night..."

"It's alright," Tamaki said, waving a dismissive hand. "The ladies thought you were adorable." He pointed over at Renge, who was still gushing about it despite her being awake now. "Why do you think we didn't wake you up?"

Haruhi shrugged, and looked out the window. "Damn it... I'll be walking home in the dark at this rate. Why didn't you guys wake me up sooner?"

"We also thought you were cute," Hikaru said bluntly. Haruhi rolled her eyes. "Want me and Kaoru to get you home?"

Haruhi seemed to consider that, then nodded. "Sure," she said. "I'd appreciate that."

"Then let's get going. Our car's waiting," Kaoru said. Haruhi stood and followed after the twins, who were already on their way out.

On their way out of the school, they noticed Kasanoda on his way out of the school, as well. He was on his phone, talking about having to take a shortcut home due to being held back by a teacher for something.

Haruhi got into the car with Hikaru and Kaoru sitting on either side of her. She looked around, awed. "Wow..."

"You're so cute!" Hikaru and Kaoru both chirped. Haruhi responded by punching both of them in the arm.

The drive was normal. For a while, at least. But halfway to Haruhi's house, something suddenly smashed into the back window. Haruhi and Kaoru both shrieked, while Hikaru simply jumped.

The item that had landed on the floor seemed to be a grenade of some sort. They all waited with eyes squeezed shut, expecting to be blown to bits any second.

But instead of a deafening explosion, they simply heard a faint... Hissing sound.

They looked down, and saw a white gas pouring out of the grenade-like item. Before any of them could think to hold their breath, one by one they started to fall unconscious...

* * *

Haruhi awoke in a room. There was an elevator-like door, and across from that, there was a... Machine. And next to Haruhi was...

"Renge, what are you doing here?"

Renge looked up from where she'd been staring blankly at the floor. "Waiting for you to wake up. Hoping you know where we are," she said, voice soft and... Unlike herself.

Haruhi shook her head sadly, and looked around.

Suddenly, the machine lit up, and the screen showed a message. Haruhi and Renge both bolted up, rushing to read it.

"If you wish to escape, inject yourself with what is in these needles," Haruhi read. A compartment on the bottom of the machine opened, and Haruhi picked up two syringes from inside.

"I... I don't think we should," Renge said. "We don't know what's in these."

"Well, do you see any other way for us to escape?"

Renge hesitantly shook her head. But then she said, "We don't know if this will really help us escape, though."

"We have to try," Haruhi insisted. "Look, I'll inject myself first and if it kills me, you'll know not to do it yourself. Okay?"

Renge considered it, then shook her head. "We should do it together."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure."

Haruhi nodded and handed Renge one of the syringes. They each rolled up their sleeves, lifted the needles, and injected themselves.

When they were done, the elevator door opened. And they were still alive.

They each dropped their syringes, and ran out of the room. There, they discovered that they were not the only ones who'd been kidnapped. The entirety of the Host Club, plus Kasanoda, were all there, struggling to open a large door with an X on it.

"Guys!" Haruhi cried out, getting their attention. Immediately, they all stopped what they were doing and looked over.

"You two as well," Kyoya murmured.

"What's going on?! Why are we here?! Who brought us here?!" Tamaki cried. "Haruhi! Are you okay?!"

"Other than having to inject myself with something weird, I'm fine," Haruhi said with a shrug.

"So you had to do that too," Hikaru said softly. Haruhi and Renge both nodded.

Before the discussion could continue, a holographic screen appeared on a wall next to the large door they were all standing next to.

On that screen was a dog with a pink bonnet.

"Well, hello there!" said the dog. "You can call me Zero, darlings! Nice to meet all of you!"

"What's going on?! I'm scared!" Honey cried out.

"Oh, you poor thing! Don't worry, dear! You're all just here to play a game!"

Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

"This game is called the Nonary Game! Doesn't it sound fun?"

"Fun?! You kidnapped us!" Haruhi snapped.

"Yeah! What the hell?!" Hikaru agreed.

Zero sighed. "Oh, dear. Do you all really think a talking dog exists?"

"N-no!" Hikaru said. "That's not what we meant! You're just using this dog thing as a disguise!"

"Nope, I'm afraid not! I'm a computer program! My real creator is the one who had you all kidnapped!"

"And who would that be?" Kyoya asked.

"Ooh, I'm afraid I can't tell you that!"

Before anyone could argue that that wasn't fair, Zero continued. "In any case, I should begin by explaining what you all injected yourselves with! Well, six of you weren't injected with anything. The other three were injected with a disease called Radical-6."

"Radical-6?" Kyoya repeated. "I've never heard of that."

"Oh, it's a disease that is... Fairly new to you all. But it does exist! And it has a seventy-five percent death rate."

"What?!" everyone screamed at once.

"Are you basically saying that three of us have a seventy-five percent chance of  _dying_?!" Hikaru screamed.

"Which three?!" Kasanoda demanded. "Tell us who's got it!"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that either, dearies!" Zero chirped. "Now, moving on, kindly look at the lovely bracelets you're all wearing!"

Everyone obeyed, looking down at their left wrists to discover that they were all wearing black, watch-like bracelets. "What are these?" Haruhi asked.

"Well, look at what's on them! Haruhi, what is on your bracelet?" Zero asked.

"Um... A three, and the word pair."

"Yes, yes! And Renge, you should have a matching one, right?"

"Yes, I do," Renge said softly.

Tamaki spoke up then, "But mine has a three and the word 'solo'."

"Indeed! Would you all care to tell us the color of the threes on your bracelet?"

"I'm red," Haruhi said.

"Mine too," Renge said.

"Mine is green," Tamaki said.

"And the rest of you? Are you pairs or solos, and what color are your threes?"

"Mine is blue, and it's a solo," Kyoya answered.

"Me and Mori are blue and a pair," said Hikaru.

"Me and Kao-chan are a Green pair..." Honey said, still visibly upset about the situation.

"I'm a red solo," Kasanoda grumbled.

"Wonderful! Now, look across the warehouse at the three pretty doors!"

Everyone turned, seeing three doors. One was magenta, one was cyan, and one was yellow.

"Are you all familiar with the RGB color wheel?" Zero asked.

Everyone nodded.

"So, let's say someone wanted to go into the magenta door. You would need bracelets that are red and blue! Alternatively, you could think of an RGB color wheel, and go with the color across from magenta, which is green! Do you all know what that means?"

"We have to pair up?" Haruhi guessed.

"Exactly! Only three people at a time may go into a door, and if the colors aren't correct, well... I'm afraid you'll be breaking the rules, and you'll get penalized! That also means, of course, that solos can't pair together, and pairs can't either!"

"What the hell does that mean? We'll get penalized?" Hikaru snapped.

Zero went quiet for a moment, then said, "You die."

Horror went across each person's face.

"Your bracelet also has a bunch of needles on the inside of it," Zero explained. "And it has two special things it will inject you with! One is an anesthetic, which is called Soporil Beta. That puts you to sleep. The other is a muscle relaxer called tubocurarine, which will numb your respiratory muscles!"

Everyone fell silent.

"So! I'm afraid that's all the time we have! Those pretty doors are going to open soon, and if you don't go through them within five minutes, you'll get penalized!"

And with that, Zero's hologram disappeared.

 


	2. Chapter 2

"Okay, listen, there are... Two options here," Haruhi said, crossing her arms. "One, we play this game. Two, we don't play, and die. I think we all know what the more preferable option is."

Everyone else nodded reluctantly.

"So, where should we all-"

"I want to pair up with Kyoya!" Renge gushed, grabbing on to Kyoya's arm.

"I'm flattered," Kyoya said.

Haruhi, however, shook her head. "I think we should pair with Tamaki-senpai and go through the yellow door. That puts Kyoya-senpai with Honey-senpai and Kaoru, and Kasanoda with Hikaru and Mori-senpai. Right?"

Everyone looked at each other. Renge sighed. "Fine, let's vote! Who wants to go with my idea?"

Only Renge raised her hand.

"What?!"

"Haruhi's the smarter one out of you two. No offense," Hikaru said. Haruhi rolled her eyes.

"That's _really_ offensive," Renge said, crossing her arms. "...Fine. Let's go."

"We have to wait for the-"

Haruhi was cut off, and the colorful doors all opened.

"You were saying?" Kyoya said with a smirk.

In a rush, Haruhi, Renge and Tamaki ran into the yellow door. Haruhi glanced behind herself, and saw everyone else going into their respective doors. With that, she turned back to her own team, and saw that they were now in a...

"A hospital room?" Tamaki said, frowning in confusion.

"I think this is an infirmary, Tamaki-senpai," Haruhi said. "Though I guess that is pretty similar."

Renge approached the door at the other end of the room, but it wouldn't budge. "Well, I guess we're stuck in here," she said.

"No, I don't think so," Haruhi said. "Look - there's a lock next to that door. I think we have to try to find the key for it."

"Somebody has all the answers," Renge mumbled, pouting to herself. Haruhi rolled her eyes and didn't respond to that comment.

"Let's just get to work."

They began searching the room. Haruhi first headed for the cupboards, and found a bunch of bottles. She looked at each one out of sheer curiosity, and found that each one was labelled 'Soporil Beta'. The anesthetic in their bracelets...

Shaking away the nervous thoughts, she sat down the bottle in her hand and shut the cupboards.

"Hey, what's this thing?" she heard Tamaki say. She turned, and saw him holding some sort of...

"That's an injection gun," she said after a moment. "See, you put the medicine here, and stick the needle into someone's arm or leg or whatever, then pull the trigger. It gets the medicine into their system faster than a syringe, so it's good if you need to..."

She trailed, off, glancing over to the cupboard. "Put someone to sleep..."

Tamaki nodded, giving a low hum of understanding. He sat the thing down, and Haruhi noticed a scalpel next to it. She picked it up, examining it. "Be careful," Tamaki warned. "That's made to cut human flesh, you know."

"Yes, I know," Haruhi said with a roll of her eyes. She sat it down with a shrug. "I was wondering if I could use it to pick the lock, but all things considered, I doubt it. Zero's creator probably wouldn't want us using loopholes or anything like that."

Tamaki nodded in agreement. "Renge, what are you doing?" he called, and Haruhi realized that she was behind the curtain in the middle of the room. She and Tamaki approached, seeing her looking through over some beds.

"Do you really think you'll find the key there?" Haruhi said dryly. "I'd think that Zero's creator would be more thorough than-"

"I found it!" Renge chirped, holding up a key with a victorious grin. Haruhi's and Tamaki's jaws both dropped. Renge skipped past them, obviously pleased with herself. "Come on, slowpokes! I'll leave you behind if you don't hurry!"

Haruhi and Tamaki slowly followed her to the door. They watched her unlock the door, and they distinctly heard a click - one that didn't come from the door. Though the door did open for them, Haruhi noticed something else open, as well.

"Guys, look," she said, pointing at a safe up on a shelf. "Think one of us can reach that?"

"I might be able to," Tamaki said. He approached it, and stood up on the tips of his toes, and pulled it down so they could all properly look in it.

In the safe, they found a newspaper article that had been clipped out, a map of the building they were in, and two key cards with suns on them.

Haruhi read the newspaper out loud for everyone. "'The Radical-6 disease continues to spread. The number of deaths is estimated to be past one hundred thousands. The cure continues to elude authorities. Immediate quarantine of any possible patients is strongly advised.'"

Haruhi swallowed thickly. Tamaki spoke, "Wait, does that mean that it's... Contagious?"

"Probably," Haruhi said with widened eyes. But then, she straightened up, eyes narrowing suspiciously. "But I doubt this is real."

She turned the clipping over, and nodded. "See, it's black on this side. It's totally fake."

"What do you mean?" Renge asked.

"Well, to begin, I doubt an epidemic like this would have escaped our notice. Secondly, Kyoya-senpai said he'd never heard of this disease, but his family runs hospitals. I'd think he'd know something about a disease like this. And finally, something like this would have definitely made the front page of a newspaper. But why, then, is it such a short article? And why is the back of it black?"

Neither Renge nor Tamaki had a response. Haruhi nodded firmly. "See? This is fake. I bet none of us are infected with Radical-6. Zero, or Zero's creator, made it up to scare us."

"If you say so," Tamaki said, though he still seemed hesitant to believe her, as did Renge.

Still, Haruhi shrugged. "Let's get out of here. Hopefully we'll be able to meet up with the others and they can tell us what they think."

Together, they left the room. They headed down a long hallway, and ended up in front of an elevator.

"Do you think it works?" Tamaki asked. Haruhi was about to test it herself, when footsteps came from behind them all...

They saw all six of the others, looking genuinely stunned to see them.

"You guys too?" Kaoru said. "Guess the map was right, then..."

Map... Right! They'd gotten a map out of that safe, too! Haruhi pulled theirs out, and looked.

The magenta door would eventually bring Hikaru, Mori and Kasanoda up to the elevator... As would the cyan door with Kyoya, Honey and Kaoru.

"Where did you guys end up?" Tamaki asked.

"We were in a lounge," Hikaru replied. "There were drinks and a globe and a very comfortable couch."

"We were in some sort of... Crew quarters, I'd say. Likely for people who worked here... Or for us, if Zero's creator expects us to stay for long..."

Everyone frowned at the thought. "Where did you end up?" Kaoru asked after a minute, looking at Haruhi, Renge and Tamaki.

"An infirmary," Haruhi said. "Oh, and we found this," she added, pulling out the supposed 'newspaper article'. She handed it over to Kyoya, deeming him the most logical of the group.

Kyoya read the 'article' out loud. Everyone tensed, clearly nervous...

"I said that I thought it was fake," Haruhi eventually said.

"That's just what I was thinking," Kyoya said with a nod. "You're quite intelligent, being able to spot that. Unlike some."

Everyone else glared at Kyoya - not that he seemed to care. "In any case, we should see where this elevator will take us," he said, motioning to it. Everyone sighed, and nodded in hesitant agreement.

Haruhi pressed the only button to the side of the door - one that pointed downward. All nine of them piled into the elevator when it opened, and they waited as the doors closed, and they went down...

Then, the doors opened, and they all got out. There, they saw three more new colorful doors. One red, one blue, and one green.

"More doors for us to go through, huh?" Hikaru said, giving a deep sigh. "Well, guess we're supposed to wait for them to-"

"Report back to the Floor A warehouse!" a robotic voice sounded over some sort of intercom. "Report back to the Floor A warehouse!"

Everyone groaned. "Guess not," Haruhi mumbled. Together, they all got into the elevator once more, and Haruhi pressed the 'up' button on the inside of the elevator.

They went through the lounge, deeming it the shortest route to the warehouse. Everyone who hadn't gone through it looked around in interest, but only for a moment, then they followed the other three into the warehouse.

They saw Zero waiting there for them on the holographic screen on the wall.

"Hello, there! Time for more rules for the game, dearies!" Zero chirped. "See those rooms there you all came out of? They're locked now! You're going to need those key cards you got from your rooms! You did all get them, right?"

Everyone held up the key cards silently. "Good! So, then, it's time for us to vote! Pairs will vote together, okay? So you pairs need to go into the same room, but solos are the opposite! Solos need to be all alone when they vote, okay?"

"What are we voting for?" Haruhi asked.

"You're going to choose between two options! Ally or betray!" Zero giggled brightly. "You're going to go against whoever you went with in your respective rooms! For example, Haruhi and Renge will go against Tamaki! So, let's say Haruhi and Renge choose ally, and so does Tamaki! You both get two more points! That will make that three on your bracelets go from three, to five!"

"Wait, these are points?" Haruhi said, looking down at her bracelet in confusion.

"Yep!" Zero said. "So, moving on, if Haruhi and Renge choose betray, and Tamaki chooses ally, then Haruhi and Renge get  _three_ more points, and Tamaki will  _lose_ two! And it works if it goes vice versa, too! If Tamaki chooses betray, but Haruhi and Renge choose ally, then Tamaki gets three more points, and Haruhi and Renge lose two!" Zero paused, making sure no one had questions about that, then continued. "Now, if Haruhi and Renge choose betray, and so does Tamaki, then no one gets or loses anything! Okay?"

Everyone nodded slowly in understanding.

"Good! Now, go on into your rooms, okay? It doesn't matter who goes where!"

Haruhi handed Tamaki one of the key cards, while everyone else got their own, then they all split up. Haruhi and Renge ended up at the leftmost room, the one they had come out of earlier.

On the screen on the machine, there was a bright button that said 'Start'. Haruhi and Renge looked at each other, and shrugged. Haruhi pressed the button... And the door shut behind them.

Haruhi jolted, turning around with wide eyes. "Uh..."

"Hopefully it'll open when we pick ally or betray," Renge said. Haruhi nodded in agreement. "Speaking of which, I think we should choose betray," Renge said.

Haruhi spun towards Renge, staring at her with widened eyes. "What?!"

"Think about it! We don't really know what the points do, but whatever it is, we might be able to escape if we get enough, right? Plus, nothing's gonna happen to Tamaki! He'll just have one point instead of five! Unless he plans on betraying us, too, in which case we'll have three instead of one!"

Haruhi tried to imagine Tamaki choosing betray, but she just couldn't. "Are you sure? I mean, what if something happens because his points are too low?" she said hesitantly.

"I'm sure Zero would have said something if that was the case."

Haruhi swallowed thickly, but she nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Okay."

Renge, in a way, was making some sort of sense to her. But still... Haruhi would feel awful about it... She sighed, shoulders slumping. "Okay. Let's do it."

Haruhi turned, and pressed 'betray'. Immediately after, the door opened. Haruhi and Renge left their room, seeing that they were the last ones out. "Yay! Everyone's finally here!" Zero cheered. "Time for the results!"

Zero disappeared from the holographic screen, and showed, instead, what everyone had voted.

_Kyoya - Betray. Honey and Kaoru - Ally. Kyoya +3 points, Honey and Kaoru -2 points._

_Kasanoda - Betray. Hikaru and Mori - Betray. No change._

_Tamaki - Ally. Haruhi and Renge - Betray. Tamaki -2 points, Haruhi and Renge +3 points._

A tense silence fell over everyone. The chart disappeared, and Zero's form came back.

"Tut, tut, tut!" Zero said. "You all don't even know what the points do, and yet four of you still voted betray!"

Everyone looked down, those who'd voted betray clearly feeling ashamed, and those who'd voted ally feeling, well, betrayed.

"Well, I suppose I should tell you all what the points do, then." Zero let out a hum. "Well, when someone gets to nine points or more, and pulls that lever by the big door with the X on it, you'll be able to escape! But only people who have nine or more points are allowed to leave! Anyone who tries to leave with less than nine will have their bracelet activated!" Then, Zero paused, clearly waiting for any questions. When none came, the holographic dog continued, "However! If you should get zero points, or less, then... Well, you'll die then, too! So those of you who have one point left, I'd be extra careful from now on about who you trust!"

Honey had tears brimming in his eyes. "Kyo-chan, why?! Why'd you do that?!"

Kyoya didn't respond. His shame from just a moment ago seemed to disappear, and he was now nothing more than stubbornly determined.

Kaoru knelt down, gently wiping away his teammate's tears, glaring over at Kyoya.

Tamaki was staring at the ground. Haruhi waited for him to run off to some corner, bemoaning how Haruhi had betrayed him, but... He just stood there. And that made Haruhi feel even worse than if he was acting like his usual, overdramatic self.

"Now! Time for round two!" Zero chirped. "Would all of you kindly look at your bracelets for me, and tell me what color they are now?"

They all slowly obeyed. "Mine is magenta," Haruhi said.

"Mine's yellow," Hikaru said. "Oh, and I changed from a pair to a solo."

"Me too," Kaoru said, "but I'm magenta."

"I went from solo to pair, and I'm yellow," Kyoya said.

"I'm yellow. Still a pair," Mori said.

"I'm a solo now, and I'm cyan," Honey said, wiping away the last of his tears.

"I'm still a pair, but I'm cyan," Renge said.

"I'm a cyan pair, too," Kasanoda said.

"That means Tamaki-senpai is my partner... Right?" Haruhi said when she realized that Tamaki wasn't going to say anything. The blond simply nodded.

"That's right!" Zero said happily. "Good, good! Now, I believe you all already saw the doors downstairs, right? The red, blue and green ones!" Everyone nodded in reply. "Good! So, you're smart people, I'm sure you'll figure out the teams yourselves! Go on, then, you don't have long before those doors open!"

And with that, Zero disappeared. Everyone sighed, and turned to go towards the magenta door. However, halfway there, everyone realized that Kaoru wasn't following. They all turned, and saw him staring blankly into space.

"Kaoru? You okay?" Hikaru called.

He got no response. He rushed over, but before he could even touch his brother...

Kaoru collapsed to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so AO3 is not letting me respond to findmeinthevoid's comment, so I'll just put my explanation here.
> 
> I'll start with the solo/pair things. Pairs are two people who HAVE to do everything in the game (for the current round, at least) together. They have to vote together, they have to go through the same door, etc. Haruhi and Tamaki, in the current point in the fic, are a pair, so they'll have to go through the same door and vote together. Solos, however, are, as the game I got this from puts it, 'forever alone'. They vote by themselves, though technically they don't go into rooms by themselves.
> 
> Solos cannot pair with other solos, and the same goes for pairs. This is because exactly three people have to go through each door the first time around - aka, when they first open.
> 
> As for the colors, here's an image of the RGB color wheel the game uses: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/ninehourspersonsdoors/images/3/31/Redgreenblue.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150626094422
> 
> Essentially, the first round had each person either go into the doors with colors that could either make the color of the door they were going into on that wheel (Haruhi and Renge were red, Tamaki was green, and on the RGB wheel that makes yellow) OR they could have gone into the complementary doors of their color (If Haruhi and Renge had paired with Kasanoda, they could have gone into the cyan door). With the second round, they need to go into doors that have a common color between them, or do the complimentary thing again. Haruhi and Tamaki are magenta, so, if they want to go into the, say, red door, they have to pair with Hikaru, who is yellow. On the RGB wheel, yellow and magenta both have red in them.
> 
> Now, for the points. I kind of had to make do without being able to make a chart like the game had, so unfortunately I didn't do too well in explaining it. Here's an image of the chart: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/ninehourspersonsdoors/images/f/f8/Zero_Escape_Vol._2_Virtue%27s_Last_Reward_%281%29.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130722083819
> 
> I'll try to explain again, though. Let's say Haruhi had voted ally instead of betray. Then she and Tamaki would have both gotten two points, instead of her gaining three and him losing two. If Tamaki had voted betray as well, then neither of them would have gained or lost anything - like what happened with Kasanoda, Hikaru and Mori.
> 
> When someone gets nine points (or more) they'll be able to escape. Note that they don't have to escape as soon as they have nine points, they could just wait for everyone else to get nine as well. Someone who didn't have nine points, if they tried to escape with the person who did have nine points, would have their bracelet activated, and they would be killed.
> 
> When someone's points drops to zero or below, however, their bracelet will activate then, as well. Which is why Honey, Kaoru and Tamaki are told to 'be careful of who they trust' by Zero.
> 
> Hope that explained it a bit better, haha...


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @findmeinthevoid - yesterday I was, for some reason, unable to comment in reply to your post, so I just updated the second chapter's end note with a more thorough explanation.

"Kaoru!  _Kaoru!_ Wake up!" Hikaru cried, rushing to his twin's side. Unfortunately, for all his shouting and shaking at Kaoru's side, his brother was dead to the world.

"Let's get him to the infirmary," Haruhi said.

Hikaru gave a weak nod, and he lifted his brother into his arms. He seemed to be struggling as he carried him to the yellow door, but he denied any help from the others. When they got to the infirmary, Hikaru gently laid him down on one of the beds.

"How do we know what's wrong with him? None of us are doctors," Haruhi said softly.

"Perhaps," Kyoya said, "but I know enough about doctor tools. Being that my family runs hospitals." He motioned to a machine next to the bed Kaoru was on. "This machine, for example, will diagnose him and tell us exactly what's wrong. It's a little complicated so I won't explain how it works, but trust me - it is our best shot."

Hikaru reluctantly stepped to the side, though he seemed to be almost glaring at Kyoya as he picked up a sort of scanner and ran it over Kaoru's body. No one blamed him - Kyoya had betrayed Kaoru in the previous round, and put Kaoru one point away from death.

After the scan was complete, a bunch of technical, medical terms showed up on the screen. Kyoya's eyes widened, and when he was done reading, he cleared his throat awkwardly.

"I have some bad news," he whispered. "It seems that... Kaoru has Radical-6."

A cold feeling of dread ran over the group.

"Wait, I thought we all agreed that that was fake," Haruhi said in a shaky voice. "Kyoya-senpai, you know about this machine, and yet you've never heard of Radical-6. Don't tell me you're going to suddenly believe it exists."

Kyoya hesitated. "Haruhi, there are very few ways for someone to hack into this sort of machine - trust me. The only way for it to suddenly have a fake illness in its database were if someone built it themselves and then added their own code. And even then, it wouldn't know how to recognize that fake illness. We must face facts - Radical-6 is real."

"But that's impossible! That newspaper, don't you think we would know if-"

"I'm not saying that the newspaper wasn't fake," Kyoya interrupted, "just that the illness isn't fake. Zero's creator definitely faked that newspaper, there's no doubt in my mind that we wouldn't have noticed such an epidemic otherwise. But Radical-6 could still exist - just on a much smaller scale."

Through Haruhi and Kyoya's argument, Hikaru simply sat by Kaoru's unconscious form with tears in his eyes.

...That is, until Kaoru sat up, getting everyone else's attention.

"Kaoru! Oh thank god, I guess you're one of the twenty-five percent, yeah?" Hikaru said, a relieved grin on his face. He moved to pull his twin into a hug-

And was promptly shoved to the ground. "Get away from me!"

"Wha... Kaoru! What the heck?!"

"Sorry, Hikaru. But I can't have you getting in the way of my escape!"

Everyone blinked in confusion. "Kaoru, what do you mean?" Haruhi said gently. "The only way for you to escape is if you get nine points."

Kaoru shook his head, a glassy look in his eye as he stood up. He stepped over Hikaru's body, walking towards a table. "They can't lock away the soul. Once my body is gone, once I'm free of this shell... I can escape."

With lightning speed, he snatched up the scalpel. "Kaoru, no!" Hikaru screamed, scrambling to stand up.

Mori and Honey both lunged, grabbing Kaoru in an attempt to keep Kaoru from using that scalpel for what he intended.

"Let go!" Kaoru screamed. "Let me go! I want to die! I  _have_ to die! Let me escape! Let me die!"

Haruhi looked around frantically as Mori and Honey struggled with Kaoru, who was somehow as strong as both of them combined - if not stronger.

Her eyes landed on the injection gun, and she remembered the Soporil Beta in the cabinets. She rushed to the cabinets, pulling out a bottle of the anesthetic and then grabbing the injection gun. She loaded the gun, and watched the three struggle. His neck! No other place on Kaoru's body was exposed, so that would have to do. She waited until Kaoru was facing away from her, and she rushed, injecting Kaoru in the back of his neck.

"Ow!"

Mori and Honey stopped struggling, and pulled away. Kaoru swayed, and then fell to the floor.

"Kaoru!" Hikaru cried, and he scrambled to stand. "What did you do, Haruhi?!"

"It's just an anesthetic," Haruhi said quickly. "It should keep him asleep, at least for a while." She hoped so, anyway.

"And what if it doesn't? What if he wakes up and he tries to... To..."

Haruhi hesitated. "Whoever goes with Kaoru in the next round," she said, pulling out the empty bottle and putting another into the injection gun, "needs to take this with them. Okay? That way they'll be able to put him to sleep at least one more time."

"And if they need it again?" Hikaru said, crossing his arms.

Haruhi had no reply.

"Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai could barely hold him back!" Hikaru shouted. "And they can't both go with him this time!"

Haruhi swallowed thickly. "Listen, the anesthetic should be strong enough to keep him asleep for a while. I seriously doubt that we'll need to inject him a second time."

Hikaru scoffed, and lifted Kaoru into his arms. "Whatever. Let's go."

They headed down to the second set of doors, and then came the hard part - choosing who wanted to go where.

"If I could, I'd go with Kaoru, but we're both solos. So I'll just say this - I don't trust anyone who voted betray last time to go with Kaoru."

Kyoya frowned. "But that only leaves Honey-senpai," he pointed out. "But he's a solo, just like Kaoru."

Hikaru shook his head, though. "You're wrong. I trust the boss, too."

Tamaki blinked. "Me? But, I'm going with Haruhi, and she..."

"I know. But I trust you more than I don't trust her. So can you promise to take good care of him?"

Tamaki nodded, and he gently took Kaoru into his arms. "Then, we're going into the green door," he said, looking at Haruhi.

"That puts Renge, Kasanoda and Honey-senpai in the red door," Haruhi said, "and Hikaru, Kyoya-senpai and Mori-senpai in the blue door." Everyone nodded in confirmation.

They all turned to their respective, already opened doors, and went in just seconds before they closed behind them.

This time, the door Haruhi, Tamaki and the unconscious Kaoru went into led them down a long hallway. When they came to the end, they saw a lever, and three locked doors. None of them had any colors.

"What should we do?" Tamaki asked, shifting his hold on Kaoru.

"Pull the lever, duh," Haruhi said with a shrug. And before Tamaki could argue, Haruhi pulled said lever.

A ding sounded, and one of the doors opened. Haruhi headed on in, and Tamaki hesitantly followed her.

"That was dangerous, you know. You shouldn't just do things at random without knowing what you're doing."

Haruhi got the feeling that he was talking about more than her pulling the lever. "Sorry," she said, letting him take it how he wanted.

Tamaki just sighed, and looked around the room they were in. "Where are we?"

Interestingly, there was a second room, with a window along the length of it. She looked into the window, and saw nine pods. She looked at the door, seeing a plaque on it.

"Treatment pods..." Her eyes widened. "Wait, maybe these can help Kaoru!"

Tamaki brought Kaoru over to the door, and Haruhi tried to open the door...

"Yeah, it's not budging," she said with a sigh. "Set Kaoru down on that couch, okay? Let's try to find a way into this room."

Tamaki nodded, and gently laid Kaoru down on the couch under the window.

Haruhi noticed a keypad on the door, under the plaque. "Look for some sort of passcode written down anywhere," she told Tamaki, who nodded in response.

Haruhi approached a desk in one corner of the room, seeing an old computer on it. She moved the mouse, and was relieved when there wasn't a password needed for it to start up. She went through the files and such on it, but everything useful seemed to have been deleted - and the trash was emptied, which meant there wasn't really a way to retrieve it that she knew of. She sighed, and shook her head.

"Hey, Haruhi? C'mere," Tamaki said. Haruhi looked over, and saw Tamaki staring at some jellyfish in a tank.

"Tamaki-senpai, what are you doing?" she said with a sigh, walking over. "I asked you to-"

"No, look! That jellyfish has something inside it!"

Haruhi blinked, and saw that he was right. There was some sort of paper in the jellyfish. She scrunched up her nose. Ugh. Now she'd have to get stung... Or...

She looked at Tamaki.

...No, he was probably already upset enough with her. "Move. I'll get it," she said, nudging him to the side. She moved the top off of the tank, and reached into the water, grabbing the jellyfish.

She blinked. It was  _hard_.

...It was a toy. She sighed, pulled it out of the water and reached into the bottom, pulling out the piece of paper that was, thankfully, not wet. "It's the passcode! I hope..."

She rushed to the keypad, and pushed in the numbers. The door opened immediately. Tamaki picked Kaoru up and followed Haruhi into the second room with the pods.

"So... Any ideas how these things work?" Haruhi asked. Tamaki shook his head.

Haruhi sighed, and went to the nearest one. Luckily for both of them, it seemed to be pretty simple. There was a button that said 'open' on the side, a button that said 'lock', and a button that said 'close'. Haruhi pressed the 'open' button, and watched as the pod easily opened up. Inside, there was a key...

"Ah. We forgot to be looking for the key to get out," she said, smiling wryly. She picked up the key, and Tamaki laid Kaoru down in the pod. Haruhi pressed 'close', and the pod closed.

"Will he be able to get out if he wakes up?" Tamaki asked. "What if he tries to... You know..."

Haruhi hummed. "Good point. I'll lock it." She pressed the 'lock' button, and heard a click.

Then, there was a ding, and Haruhi looked at the screen next to the pod. "'Subject is infected with Radical-6. This pod is not equipped to treat the disease, but can provide relief from the symptoms.' Well... I guess that's better than nothing, right?" she said, offering a nervous smile over to Tamaki.

Tamaki sighed and nodded. "Yes, I suppose. Though I wonder if his... Episode earlier is included under 'symptoms'."

Haruhi didn't reply, and Tamaki didn't say anything more. After a while of silence, Haruhi sighed and left the pod room with Tamaki. She spotted another door - one they hadn't paid attention to earlier - and went to unlock it.

Just like with the infirmary, a second click was heard. Haruhi glanced up on the shelf above the computer, and motioned to it. "Another safe."

"I'll get it," Tamaki said, going over and pulling it down. Haruhi followed, and watched as Tamaki pulled out two new key cards, ones with moons on them, a second map, and a piece of paper.

"'More rules for the Nonary Game: If someone abstains from voting for forty-five minutes, their vote automatically is entered as ally. However, if all three people in a group do not vote, their bracelets will activate. In other words, at least one person in each group MUST vote.'," Tamaki read.

"Well, at least we know nothing will happen because Kaoru can't vote," Haruhi noted.

Tamaki looked at her, but didn't say anything about it. "We should head out and try to get back to the warehouse..." He looked at the map - this one was of the floor they were currently on. "I think if we head through this big room here, we'll be able to get back to the elevator," he said, pointing at the largest room on the map. Haruhi nodded in agreement, and followed after Tamaki as he turned to leave.

When they went through the large room, it turned out to be a second warehouse - though this one had no voting rooms, and instead of there being three colorful doors, the three doors across the room were bright, luminous white.

"I guess those are the doors for the next round, but..." Haruhi frowned, and sighed. "Guess we'll see soon enough."

Tamaki nodded, and they continued through the only non-white door, and headed back towards the elevator.

Once they went back to the warehouse, they saw everyone else there waiting for them. Hikaru immediately noticed that Kaoru wasn't with them, and stormed over. "Where's Kaoru?! What did you do with him?!"

Quickly, Haruhi and Tamaki explained the treatment pods, and Hikaru managed to relax. "Can one of you show me?"

"I'll go with him," Tamaki said.

"Shouldn't we get to voting...?" Haruhi said.

"Zero hasn't told us to vote yet, so I don't think it matters," Tamaki said with a shrug. "Just wait for us to get back, okay?"

Haruhi hesitated, but nodded in agreement.

It only took about ten, or maybe fifteen, minutes before Tamaki and Hikaru came back, with Hikaru looking quite relieved that his brother was okay. Everyone got their key cards, and went to open the voting rooms.

As soon as Haruhi hit 'start', Tamaki turned to her. "You will vote ally, right?"

Haruhi's eyes widened. "Of course I will," she said defensively. "Not only is Kaoru unable to vote for himself, but he'll die if I vote betray, anyway."

Tamaki frowned. "So when you actually know about that stuff, you vote ally. Would it be the same way if it were me, then?"

Haruhi tensed. "That's what this is about? Renge manipulated me into choosing betray, Tamaki-senpai. If she had just stayed quiet I would have chosen ally then, too!"

Tamaki stared at her, but didn't actually seem to be looking at her. It was like he was trying to see if she was lying...

"You want to vote yourself, then?" Haruhi asked, crossing her arms.

"...No. Go ahead," Tamaki said, stepping to the side - watching her closely.

Haruhi nodded. And she pressed 'ally'. The door opened.

Because Kaoru was unable to vote for himself, everyone had to wait a full forty-five minutes before they could see the results.

_Hikaru - Betray. Kyoya and Mori - Betray. No change._

_Honey - Betray. Renge and Kasanoda - Ally. Honey +3 points, Renge and Kasanoda -2 points._

_Kaoru - Ally. Haruhi and Tamaki - Ally. +2 points to all three._

Tamaki and Hikaru both gave relieved sighs, thankful for Haruhi's choice. Hikaru was pointedly ignoring Kyoya and Mori's upset, just pleased that his brother was alive.

Meanwhile, Renge and Kasanoda were glaring menacingly at Honey, who simply stared, almost emotionlessly, at them.

"I only had one point left. I was scared," he said. Though maybe it would have been more effective if he said it in his 'boy lolita' way, it still seemed to get Renge and Kasanoda to back off a little.

Zero appeared again, taking the place of the results. "You all have a liiiittle bit more time before the next set of doors open, so go do whatever until you hear a loud ding, okay? Okay!"

Zero disappeared. And everyone headed in opposite directions, some unable to stand the company of others.

Tamaki and Haruhi ended up going together to look around the rooms that everyone else had searched in the previous round. The first one they searched was the one Hikaru, Kyoya and Mori went through - it seemed to be some sort of Pressure Exchange Chamber.

"Why do you think they'd need a room like this?" Haruhi asked, looking around in confusion. Tamaki only shrugged, seeming deep in thought. "Um... Senpai? You okay?"

Tamaki looked at Haruhi, and smiled softly. "...I forgive you."

Haruhi froze. "...What?"

"I mean, what you just did," he said, "choosing ally against Kaoru. It proves that you wouldn't have picked betray if you'd known what would happen. So... I..." He blinked, eyes starting to glaze over. "I..."

Haruhi frowned. "Senpai? Are you alright?"

Slowly, Tamaki nodded...

And then he collapsed.

"Tamaki-senpai!" Haruhi cried out. She knelt down, realizing that she had to get him to a treatment pod -  _and lock it_ \- before he could become violent like Kaoru had. So, as fast as she could move with Tamaki in her arms, she rushed to the room with the treatment pods...

And she saw Hikaru there, next to Kaoru's pod.

He looked up upon hearing her come in. "Hey... What happened?" he asked, eyes wide as he watched Haruhi put Tamaki in a pod.

"Same thing that happened with Kaoru, I'm guessing," she replied.

Hikaru nodded in understanding. "We should go tell the others, then."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda stopped updating this fic because I had no idea how I would be able to fix the sad attempt at an outline that I've got written. It's... Just, not good.
> 
> But I'll try and work with it anyway. If something doesn't seem to work, I'll have to change it. That's all I can do...

With Tamaki secured in his locked treatment pod, Hikaru and Haruhi left, searching for the others together so they could alert them all about the new status of their Host King. They searched together, in case the other had Radical-6. If the other collapsed, they would carry them and place them in the last treatment pod.

Finally, they came to the infirmary. Haruhi opened the door, and the pair stepped in together.

And they froze in shock at the sight that awaited them.

Everyone...  _Everyone_... Laid there in a terrible, bloody pile. And they were all dead. Kyoya's and Renge's necks were slit open, Honey's arms had thick gashes running all over them, Mori's chest had a big, bloody hole in it, and Kasanoda was the same - but with the scalpel from before, now dyed a bloody, bloody red all over, dug deep in it.

Haruhi put a hand over her mouth, trying to hold in what little was in her stomach.

"How could you?" Hikaru whispered, looking at the scene with horror in his eyes.

Haruhi slowly lowered her hand, and looked up at him, a frown tugging at her lips. "What?"

"You heard me!" Hikaru snapped, turning to her with a furious, blazing fire in his eyes. "How could you?! They were our  _friends_ , Haruhi!"

"You think  _I_ did this?!" Haruhi shouted. "Hikaru, I know they were our friends! They... They must have done this to thems-"

"Bullshit!" Hikaru interrupted. "Why the _fuck_ would they have done this to themselves?!"

"Maybe... Maybe they had Radical-6," Haruhi said. But it sounded unconvincing, even to her own ears.

Hikaru scoffed. "Haruhi, please," he said. "Zero said that only three of us had Radical-6."

"Then maybe Zero lied!" Haruhi tried. "Hikaru, I didn't kill our friends! Come on, I'm not accusing you of killing them!"

"Yeah, because I didn't do it - and you know that."

Haruhi floundered desperately, searching for a response. And while she did that, Hikaru moved towards Kasanoda's lifeless body. She fell completely silent, her voice suddenly being wrenched from her body as she saw him pull out the disgustingly red scalpel. She watched him, legs refusing to move, as he turned back to him, anger in his eyes.

Hikaru said nothing as he walked towards her, and maybe that was the most terrifying thing. He didn't think he needed to justify killing his friend. In his eyes, she'd killed the others, so that was all the justification he needed. And she could find no way to convince him otherwise.

She couldn't even find it in herself to shut her eyes as she watched him, waiting for the stab of the scalpel. Would he stab her in her neck? Her chest, maybe? She began shaking, all over...

And suddenly, all she could see was black, and she felt as though she were... Floating.

* * *

She gasped, looking around with wide eyes. She was... Back? Before she'd voted betray against Tamaki, judging by the fact that Renge was there.

Oh, god, Renge was there. She was alive, looking at her with concern in her eyes. "Haruhi?" she said, gently. "Are you okay? You look scared..."

"I..." She swallowed thickly. Was it a dream? "I'm... I'm voting ally, Renge."

"What?!" Renge cried. "But you just said you'd vote betray!"

_'Even though he forgave me... I can't go through that again. I don't want to betray him again, dream or not.'_

"Well, I changed my mind," Haruhi said simply. And with that, before Renge could argue, Haruhi pressed the button. Just like in her 'dream', the door behind them immediately opened.

The pair of them left, Renge obviously pouting, and they saw that they were the last ones out.

"Yay! Everyone's finally here!" Zero cheered. "Time for the results!"

Zero disappeared from the holographic screen, and showed, instead, what everyone had voted.

_Kyoya - Betray. Honey and Kaoru - Ally. Kyoya +3 points, Honey and Kaoru -2 points._

_Kasanoda - Betray. Hikaru and Mori - Betray. No change._

_Tamaki - Betray. Haruhi and Renge - Ally. Tamaki +3 points, Haruhi and Renge -2 points._

A tense silence fell over everyone. The chart disappeared, and Zero's form came back.

"Tut, tut, tut!" Zero said. "You all don't even know what the points do, and yet four of you still voted betray!"

Everyone looked down, those who'd voted betray clearly feeling ashamed, and those who'd voted ally feeling, well, betrayed.

"Well, I suppose I should tell you all what the points do, then." Zero let out a hum. "Well, when someone gets to nine points or more, and pulls that lever by the big door with the X on it, you'll be able to escape! But only people who have nine or more points are allowed to leave! Anyone who tries to leave with less than nine will have their bracelet activated!" Then, Zero paused, clearly waiting for any questions. When none came, the holographic dog continued, "However! If you should get zero points, or less, then... Well, you'll die then, too! So those of you who have one point left, I'd be extra careful from now on about who you trust!"

_'This is wrong,'_ Haruhi couldn't help but think. She heard Honey crying, asking why Kyoya had voted betray, but all she could think of was why  _Tamaki_ had voted betray. He was... He was supposed to vote ally, wasn't he? Wasn't that how it worked? Her dream...

...Well, perhaps that was all it had been. A dream.

"Haruhi...?" Tamaki spoke, careful and hesitant. Before she could say anything, Zero spoke again.

"Now! Time for round two!" Zero chirped. "Would all of you kindly look at your bracelets for me, and tell me what color they are now?"

They all obeyed. "Mine is magenta," Haruhi said softly.

"Mine's yellow," Hikaru said. "Oh, and I changed from a pair to a solo."

"Me too," Kaoru said, "but I'm magenta."

"I went from solo to pair, and I'm yellow," Kyoya said.

"I'm yellow. Still a pair," Mori said.

"I'm a solo now, and I'm cyan," Honey said, wiping away the last of his tears.

"I'm still a pair, but I'm cyan," Renge said.

"I'm a cyan pair, too," Kasanoda said.

"And I'm a magenta pair," Tamaki said softly, not meeting Haruhi's eyes.

"That's right!" Zero said happily. "Good, good! Now, I believe you all already saw the doors downstairs, right? The red, blue and green ones!" Everyone nodded in reply. "Good! So, you're smart people, I'm sure you'll figure out the teams yourselves! Go on, then, you don't have long before those doors open!"

And with that, Zero disappeared. Everyone sighed, and turned to go towards the magenta door. However, halfway there, everyone realized that Kaoru wasn't following. They all turned, and saw him staring blankly into space.

"Kaoru? You okay?" Hikaru called.

He got no response. He rushed over, but before he could even touch his brother...

Kaoru collapsed to the floor.


End file.
